THEORY:

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So at various points in your life, people are going to ask you how you ended up where you are. For me, that often means people ask my why I became a philosophy professor. The story I often tell is this: I was actually an environmental engineering major when I first started college. I took a philosophy class just to fulfill my Humanities electives and my professor challenged us: SUV's, she argued, are the solution to the environmental crisis. I was pretty skeptical. Aren't they one of the problems actually? She pointed out that if we just carpooled in them, we'd be fine -- one SUV carrying 6 people is better than 6 Priuses. So we have the technology. The problem -- the root of the problem, is that we don't want to carpool, we value the convenience of traveling on our terms and on our own schedules, more than we value the fate of the planet, and until the fate of the planet becomes a much higher priority for us, we'll never find our way our of the myriad environmental crises we face and are going to continue to face.  And our de-valuing of the planet has philosophical roots -- and there are no technological solutions to philosophical problems.

 

I was convinced, and floored, and shifted from focusing on technological solutions to philosophical ones.

 

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Instructions: Read this article by Peter Russell, "The Psychological Roots of the Environmental Crisis" and in a 500 word reflection, reconstruct the argument he's presenting and evaluate.

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